Bitumen is a highly gelatinous, dark and clammy substance. It is obtained from crude oil via fractional refining. Bitumen is mainly utilized as a binder in road building. It is also referred to as asphalt in North America. Bitumen has characteristics, like insulation, water resistance, high durability, etc. Due to these features, it is used in roofings, electronics and adhesives.

Rising demand for bitumen in all these sectors is expected to augment the demand for the bitumen market. The features of bitumen can be changed by mixing it with polymers, thereby boosting its scope for applications across various industries. With rising infrastructural operations in Brazil, China and India, bitumen demand is estimated to rise stably in the coming six years.

More than 80 percent of the bitumen generated per annum is utilized in the building of roads. Growing road building operations in the developing nations of India, Brazil and China are projected to be an important factor, positively affecting the bitumen market. Besides these, escalating demand for bitumen in other applications and generation of polymer modified bitumen is also predicted to drive the bitumen market forward.

However, ecological issues connected with the refinement, withdrawal and usage of bitumen are predicted to hold back the market. Moreover, augmented utilization of concrete as a replacement to bitumen for road building is also likely to negatively impact the bitumen market. Nevertheless, the production of bio-based bitumen is estimated to provide ample prospects to the market in the future.

Categories

The worldwide market is fragmented in view of three categories. These include applications, products and geographies. The applications bitumen market comprises waterproofing, roadways, insulation, adhesives, and others. The others sector includes industrial and decorative applications. Increased demand for bitumen across these sectors is also expected to have a positive impact on the bitumen market.

The products sector includes oxidized bitumen, paving grade bitumen, cutback bitumen, bitumen emulsion, polymer modified bitumen and others. The geographies bitumen market consists of Europe, rest of the world, North America and Asia Pacific. Growing demand for bitumen across these regions is also anticipated to drive the demand for the market. Most of the Asian Pacific bitumen market revenue comes from India and China.

Application Leader

The applications market was dominated by roadways in 2013. Roadways were the biggest application sector of the bitumen market. Waterproofing is estimated to be the most swiftly developing application in the coming years. It is likely to rise at about 4 percent CAGR during 2014 to 2020.

Product Leader

Paving grade bitumen was the biggest utilized bitumen in 2013. This product occupied more than 65 percent of the bitumen market. Polymer modified bitumen is predicted to experience the most rapid growth through the forecast period. This is on account of its escalating usage in road building operations and roofing sector.

Regions Leader

North America was the biggest client base of the bitumen market in 2013. It occupied around 30 percent of the worldwide consumption. China and India are estimated to undergo swiftest development during 2014 to 2020.